


They Fast Track the Brainy Ones

by shotboxer



Category: Shetland (TV)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-17
Updated: 2020-12-17
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:34:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28138512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shotboxer/pseuds/shotboxer
Summary: Alison is as smart as she looks
Comments: 13
Kudos: 23
Collections: Yuletide 2020





	They Fast Track the Brainy Ones

**Author's Note:**

  * For [dafna](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dafna/gifts).



**Age 17**

“Tosh! Oi, Tosh!”

Alison wrinkles her nose at Genevieve. “Is he talking to me?”

Genevieve takes a sip of her Archers and lemonade and rolls her eyes. “That’s Drew. He has this thing about giving people nicknames. Hasn’t managed to make one stick yet.” She finishes crunching her ice and smacks her lips. “Probably because he’s rubbish at it.”

Alison glances behind her and then turns to face the approaching dark haired man fully. “Drew, right?” He rocks back on his heel and stares at her, blinking. “It’s alright, I have that effect on people. Must be my sparkling personality.” She meets his eyes and makes sure her mouth stretches into a smile.

Drew smiles back. “I’ve seen you on the track. You’re fast.”

Alison leans back and pats the bar next to her. “Have a seat, Drew. And call me Tosh.”

**Age 20**

She has to shout to be heard over the din of her fellow cadets, now PCs. “It’s great you came, Gen!”

Genevieve hugs her hard and shouts into her ear, “Of course I was going to be here! You’re my new get our of jail free card.”

“In your dreams! I’ll be the one locking you in for the night.”

“No way, you’ll be too busy reading up on the latest memo about how to deal with folks who don’t clean up after their dogs or some other shite.”

Tosh blows a raspberry. “Some of us have ambitions.”

Gen accepts her drink and raises it in salute. “To PC McIntosh and her ambitions. May they take you far!”

“Oh, they will!”

**Age 21**

Her first dead body and she feels fine. A bit cold, maybe, but there’s a wind blowing down the alley, so it’s probably that. She crouches down to get a closer look. She can feel the skin around her eyes scrunching up as she squints against the glare. “There. What’s that? There’s something on her neck.”

The detective leans over her shoulder. “Some sort of wire, looks like. Here, get a picture of this and then get it bagged for evidence.” He stands up and looks down at her. “What did you say your name was?”

“PC McIntosh, sir.”

“Not sir. I’m just a DC. You should think about joining me. You’ve got the eyes for it.”

“I’ll think about it.” She’s filling out the application in her head by the time she walks back into the station at the end of her shift.

**Age 22**

“DC McIntosh?”

“Ma’am?” She looks up at the Chief Inspector who has appeared out of thin air in front of her desk and ignores the urge to stand.

“There’s a new scheme. Accelerated promotion for our brightest. I want to see your name on the list by tomorrow.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

She tries not to gawp as the woman strides off. Devaney leans across the desk. “Where’d that come from, then?”

She shoves to her feet. “Piss off, Paul. It’s not my problem if you can’t see brilliant when it’s sitting next to you every day.”

Her partner snorts, “I meant her. Last I heard she was in a big office at Headquarters. Wonder what happened?”

**Age 25**

Alison glances over at her fiancée, snoring into his pillow. The first time she’s taken time off since she joined the Police and she’s spending it on Shetland, of all places. How Drew can sleep when the light never goes away, she has no idea. She shoves at his shoulder and the snoring stops. “Who spells Alison with two els? You couldn’t have just written Tosh?”

Drew turns over with a snuffle. She can see the scar from that time he tried to pick her some of their neighbor’s roses, fell into the bush and got scratched all over by the thorns. She’d pointed out that it technically constituted attempted theft while she’d cleaned him up. He’d leaned in and kissed her, smelling of blood and antiseptic.

“I love it when you talk copper to me, DS McIntosh.”

“You trying to get arrested, then?”

“You arrest my heart every day, Tosh.”

She’d rolled her eyes and kissed Drew harder.

**Age 26**

Shetland is small and windy and far away from Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, and anywhere Alison wants to be just now. The Inspector has been away the past week at some conference and apparently isn’t bothered that his new DS started out her new placement as the most senior police officer on the whole island. She hasn’t had a drink in a week and has interviewed more people than she thought lived in the whole Lerwick about who saw what and when and are you sure nothing was taken? And just in case there exists someone who hasn’t heard yet, yes, Inspector Perez is away. Yes, she’s new to Shetland. No, she doesn’t want any tea. Now could you please answer the question?

She’s finally worked out that what seems like half the teenagers in Lerwick have been playing some stupid game where they dare each other to break into places and leave the most creative signature behind. Luckily for her, the Inspector’s daughter isn’t involved. So thanks to the unending follies of youth, she’s now met Cassie Perez before her dad, and Cassie’s other, biological, dad, Duncan as well. Not bad at all for a the new girl.

She looks down at the stacks of files and smiles to herself. “I did say I wanted more responsibility. I’d say a major investigation wrapped up neatly with a bow all by myself definitely fits the bill.”

Billy pokes his head into the room, “You say something?”

“Nah, just wool gathering. Time to call it quits for the night.”

“Aye, I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

“Night, Billy.”

“Night, Tosh.”

She stops by the Fiscal’s office and drops the files on her desk on her way out. She’s seen a sign outside the pub near her apartment advertising a pub quiz. She hasn’t had a chance to compete in anything for ages. It’s not a cross country running meet, but it may be better. Tosh gets into her car and nods to herself. She’s off duty until tomorrow afternoon. Plenty of time to have some fun and a couple drinks and be ready to meet the Inspector when her shift starts. As she turns the key in the ignition, the sky comes alive with a wash of green. The meerie dancers they call them here. Maybe she’ll do some dancing herself tonight. She’s hit the ground running after all, no reason not to keep going.


End file.
